Untamed
by RAWN89
Summary: Sonic falls for the temptation of sneaking into Eggman's newest fortress, for once, determined to foil whatever plans the crazy doctor is preparing before he actually has time to put it into action. Of course this proves to be easier said than done... T-rated to be safe.
1. Prologue: Like the Wind

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Prologue: Like the Wind**

The stars were glinting on the quiet night sky. Not a sound could be heard except that of a gentle breeze racing across the grass covered landscape that surrounded a

heavily guarded fortress.

The light breeze, however, was not made by the wind, but by a creature that in many ways shared its various traits. From the slightest silent whispers to the unruly

roaring tornados, and the untamed freedom to go wherever they wanted. `That` they had in common.

Tonight, this creature like the wind, had plans to go where he was not wanted. Why? Simply because that was who he was, and no one could keep him out when he

decided to come for a visit.

The agile creature was unusually careful to avoid getting in view of any security cameras when approaching the towering building. When reaching one of the massive

walls, he took a brief look to check for any sign that he might have been detected. To his relief, there were none. He had to figure out how to get in.

Just a few feet from where he was standing, he could see an air vent. _"And just my size too. Eggman must be slipping"_ Sonic thought smugly.

After cautiously removing the metal grate, he swiftly climbed through the opening and started to crawl deeper into the maze-like ventilation shafts. Somewhere in this

enormous metal construction his targeted enemy was currently located, hopefully, completely unaware of the ongoing intrusion of his blue archenemy.


	2. Chapter 1: Infiltration

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 1: Infiltration**

When Sonic, earlier that day, had, by sheer dumb luck, stumbled across this new fortress of his old nemesis, he had first thought of altogether ignoring it and letting

Eggman make the first move as usual.

His adventurous spirit and unquenchable curiosity, however, were of a different opinion. Urging him to return after dark, and for once, foil whatever plan the doctor

was working on before he had time to put it into action.

The evil scientist had been quiet for an unusually long amount of time, which usually signified that he was working on something big and elaborate. This, of course,

had further intrigued the blue hedgehog to the point where he found it completely irresistible to perform a closer investigation to figure out what his enemy had been

secretly working on for so long.

To his disadvantage, as he was currently crawling on all fours through the shadowy shafts, he couldn`t see much; or anything at all really, except whenever he

passed a grate near one of the numerous hallways. Getting lost in here would undoubtedly be all too easy, so he made sure to memorize which direction he chose at

every intersection he encountered.

His nose twitched in discomfort due to a tickling sensation caused from inhaling dust, and he constantly had to fight the urge to sneeze. Should he fail; the resulting

sound of that would create a loud echo that would be enhanced by the bare metal walls and channel through the entire base, inevitably attracting unwanted attention

and warn his enemy of his presence. In other words; he had no choice but to endure this mildly distracting torture.

He wasn`t sure of exactly 'what' he was looking for, but he felt certain that he eventually had to find something he could destroy in this godforsaken maze of metal

that would thwart whatever Eggman was plotting. Or perhaps just a big good old-fashioned shiny red self-destruct button he could press. Though he seriously

doubted he would be 'that' lucky.

Again.

Eggman wasn`t prone to repeat past mistakes, and would undoubtedly have made the necessary precautions to prevent his fast and furry nemesis to reprise such a

humiliating victory a second time.

Anyway, to the doctor`s bitter resent, the quick thinking and impulsive acting hero always seemed to discover some flaw or another that would tip the scales in his

favor no matter how bad the odds were against him. So Sonic wasn`t too concerned about not knowing what to do, there was always a way. And this time, for a

change, his enemy didn`t even know he had intruded his home base already. Seemed like a promising start, although he wished he hadn`t been as thoughtless as to

not bring a flashlight at least.

He mentally cursed when his left hand bumped into a dead end which forced him to crawl backwards, due to the limited space not allowing him to turn around, until

he reached the last crossroad enabling him to choose another direction.

Sonic proceeded to go deeper and deeper into the increasingly more complex network of ventilation shafts, once in a while pausing to listen if he could pick up any

sounds.

After repeating this procedure for the seventh time, his triangular ears finally pricked up at a peculiar noise.

_"What the…is that…snoring?"_ he mused in slight confusion. Curious, despite his better knowledge, he listened intently while rotating his ears to try and pinpoint the

exact location of where the sound emitted from. Stealthily, he crept closer. He took a left turn and then a right, and continued a little further when suddenly the

surface beneath him creaked and gave after. His lightning fast reflexes kicked in, and he snatched the falling grate with one hand and kept himself from tumbling

down by grabbing ahold of the edge of the newly created hole in the ventilation system with the other.

_"Whoa! That was close"_ he thought, barely stifling a nervous chuckle from relief. The screws on the grate had probably not been fastened properly, and had not been

able to withstand the hedgehog`s weight.

Luckily, this little accident hadn`t been loud enough to catch anyone's attention, and he could still hear snoring.

The mid-sized room he currently found himself in had windows, which allowed enough light in for Sonic to be able to make out contours. Glad to finally get to use his

eyesight again, even if only to a very limited extent, he decided to inspect the room further by letting go of his grip on the ventilation shaft. Landing with a soft

unheard thud on the floor below him, he carefully put down the rectangular metal netting so he could freely explore what seemed to be a…bedroom?

_"Guess that explains where the inhuman racket I`ve been following came from"_ Sonic smirked. There wasn't anything interesting to check out in the relatively small

furnished room. Other than a wardrobe door, which revealed a remarkably large dressing room, and a nightstand where he was fortunate enough to find a flashlight.

Right after he had picked this useful item up; a faint snorting sound could be heard from the sleeping form on the bed, like if someone was about to wake up.

Sonic froze for a brief second, his thoughts racing to find a way out of this. Preferably before the doctor woke up to find a rather agitated blue hedgehog who,

momentarily, felt like he might have been a little too clever and precipitous in his latest choice of actions.


	3. Chapter 2: Discovery

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

Emerald eyes quickly darted across the room, desperately looking for a suitable hiding place.

Stoop down under the bed? Too low!

Jump back up into the vent? Not without making a lot of noise!

Run out the door leading to the hallway? Only if he wanted to risk triggering every alarm in the entire fortress!

_"Guess that leaves me with the wardrobe,"_ Sonic mentally scoffed, feeling like this situation suddenly reminded a little bit too much of Narnia, but unless he didn`t

act soon; his little 'sneak in and break anything that looks important and hightail out of there'-mission, would be falling apart before he even got to figure out what

the doctor`s big plan was. And this would all have been a complete waste of time. Not to mention the slight possibility of him having serious trouble getting out in

one piece, since being in the middle of enemy territory and all.

Faster than the eye could perceive, he sped across the room and entered the dressing room. Only when closing the door behind him shut, did he remember to slow

down and close it softly so to not make a sound.

It had been hard enough to make out the smaller room`s content when he had just so recently checked it, but after shutting the door after him it was pitch black in

there.

Fortunately, he still had that flashlight in his hand. He turned it on and took in his surroundings. If it weren`t for all the clothes, it kind of resembled a small hallway.

Not leading to a different world, thank Chaos, but to a new door.

Slightly intrigued, and without any other appealing options, he entered this hidden entrance.

The sight which met him on the other side, almost took his breath away. From the viewing platform he had just walked out on he had a clear outlook over what

seemed to be the inside of an entire factory, where attack-robots were manufactured at an inconceivably large scale in the center.

_"Looks like he`s building an army!"_ Sonic thought, gasping in astonishment at how many of the metallic soldiers had already been made. Well over a hundred of them

stood lined up at the left side of the room, looking bigger and more heavily armed than the ones that the blue hero had previously been used to fight. To the right he

could see seven enormous robots that each looked so fierce that they gave the impression of impending doom. He also noticed that at least three of them seemed to

be empowered with a chaos emerald embedded safely inside a thick unbreakable glass either located on the head or on the chest of the machines.

Even though different in appearance, all of the robots shared one common trait; their eyes were dimly glowing red, signaling that they had been activated and would

likely attack him if he should show himself down there.

Sonic carefully studied the machinery in the middle. If he could only find a way to shut it down and at least prevent more of these creepy things to be made, without

being detected, it could buy him enough time to get help to destroy the ones already made later. Without the seven chaos emeralds in his possession, he stood little

chance to defeat the large number of enemies occupying this room. Much to his regret, even he couldn`t do solo missions this size and was forced to call for some

backup either from his friends or maybe even GUN.

Before he could leave though, he still had to slow down this production. Emerald eyes trailed over the machinery, following with his gaze in search of where the

engine producing power to this monstrous construction could be located.

"Aha!" he exclaimed in a whisper, when he finally found what he was looking for. Halfway concealed from his view on the far end of the room, a small machine

producing a constant humming sound and decorated with various warning signs had caught his attention.

For some unfathomable reason, there were no stairs that led down to the lower floor so far below him that even he wasn`t sure he would do so fine if he was to

jump.

Fortunately, he wasn`t too unfamiliar with the concept of running on walls…

At a speed that nearly made him invisible, he reached the other side of the room in the matter of a blink of an eye. While running he had let himself descend a few

centimeters for each step, leaving him with no more than five meters to jump down from when reaching his goal. In mid-air he curled himself into a spiky ball and

performed a homing attack that went straight through his target. Without a pause, he spun around and proceeded to repeat in reverse the method he had used to get

down to return to his kick-off. Above on the platform and safe from the following explosion and curious robots, he waited in mild suspense for his effort to take effect.

The lights flickered and went out, simultaneously as the machines powered down, leaving the room in utter darkness with the exception of the numerous ominously

glowing eyes of the robots. Although pleased he inwardly shuddered at the sight and was about to turn away from them to leave, when the power unexpectedly

returned.

"What?" he mumbled and blinked in surprise at the sharp light.

_"He must have had a backup!"_ he thought with a growing sense of warning as he realized that his little plan had failed.

Suddenly he got an unsettling feeling of a presence behind him.

"Well, well…look who`s here," a familiar voice drawled venomously from behind, making the hedgehog turn with a startled expression.


	4. Chapter 3: Encounter

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 3: Encounter**

"Cat got your tongue, rodent?" Eggman asked with a questioningly raised eye ridge, though clearly amused that he achieved taking the blue blur off guard.

Sonic wasn`t one to stay flustered for long though, and quickly assumed a confident posture with a cocky smile on his muzzle. "I`m here to stop you, and I believe

you have me confused with a porcupine 'cause hedgehogs aren`t rodents. Totally different order," he retorted determinedly, immediately shifting back to his usual

confident bravado.

"Stop me? I haven`t even done anything yet! At least you could have the common decency to wait for me to announce an attack first before you decide to invade my

home like some common vermin," the doctor said in fake hurt.

The blue hero seemed severely unimpressed, and on the brink of boredom "Spare me. I know you`re up to something, and by the look of it, something a tad bit more

extravagant than usual." Without turning his head, he frowned and gave a meaningful glance toward the high activity that resumed below the platform they were

standing on.

Ignoring that last remark, the doctor`s face grew serious as he prepared his next question. "How did you even manage to get in?"

"Ventilation," Sonic answered casually as he pointed upwards, before adding "You should really consider putting in some lights and signs in, though. You won`t

believe the peril I went through to find my bearings in there. And between you and me, you have a serious invasion of dust bunnies going on up there".

"The only thing I`ll be adding is security sensors," Eggman grumbled under his mustache, and pressed a few buttons on a remote control, hidden behind his back.

Even though the reason for the hedgehog doing something so uncharacteristic as to make the first move and try to destroy his base eluded him; he wasn`t

completely unprepared to give his enemy a 'warm welcome'.

Five robots responded to the invisible command, and activated their rocket shoes to fly up and surround the blue intruder.

Sonic immediately readied himself into a battle stance, his eyes resolute and his senses on high alert, but still wearing a smug grin. Only five? He had expected more.

"This must be the welcome committee. Mind if I ask 'em up for a dance?"

"Not at all," the doctor replied with a cruel complacent smile.

Had the hedgehog not been so busy on focusing on his metallic opponents aiming their laser guns at him, he might have noticed the complete lack of worry in his

nemesis` expression and perhaps have taken some precautions considering these were new robots.

Sonic jumped high up in the air as the first gun was fired toward him. In a fluent movement, he prepared to do another homing attack. Like a bullet, he shot toward

his first attacker`s chest, but bounced off without so much as leaving a dent. He landed back on the platform, did a backflip to avoid the next round of lasers and

dodged away from a pair of metallic claws snatching after him. With no chaos emerald to power up his strongest move, he had no chance of defeating the apparently

hedgehog proof armored foes…unless he could trick them into destroying each other, of course.

Placing himself in front of one robot, he waved tauntingly at the remaining four which didn`t hesitate to fire at him. Sonic quickly ducked and avoided getting hit by

millimeters. The robot behind him wasn`t so lucky, penetrated by the lasers melting its way through the reinforced material, ultimately causing it to explode. The

shock wave from the explosion was a little bit stronger than he had predicted it would be, making him lose his balance and stumble closer toward the other four

artificial soldiers. One of them lashed out with its claw-like hand and hit his head.

Sonic collapsed on the floor near the edge of the platform with a weak moan and blacked out.

Approaching the knocked out hedgehog, Eggman grinned triumphantly. True he didn`t expect the blue blur to find a way to destroy any of his creations, but that was

an insignificant flaw in his design that he could tend to later.

At the moment he was too thrilled to have finally beaten his sworn enemy, who lay helpless on his side, so close to the edge that one of his arms hung down from it.

How easy it would be to simply give the hedgehog a little kick to push him over into a free-fall. A fall from that kind of height would undoubtedly kill his sworn enemy

once and for all, which would make his plans of world domination so much easier without that pesky rat to meddle with them.

Tempting as it was, he still had some standards. True he didn`t really care if he hurt or even accidentally were to kill someone standing in his way, but he wasn`t

really the cold blooded murderous type who actively sought to kill anyone. Besides, killing Sonic when he wasn`t even conscious robbed him from half of the fun out

of doing it. That, however, didn`t mean that he simply would let the blue blur go. The hedgehog could prove to be a useful test subject for his latest invention that he

had been working on for some time. Also he would like to find out a few things about his nemesis; like how he ran so fast, and how a seemingly nonintellectual and

reckless juvenile had been able to outsmart him for so many years.


	5. Chapter 4: Captivity

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 4: Captivity**

Sonic abruptly awoke due to a shooting pain from his tail where someone, or rather something, just pinched him quite forcefully.

"Ow, hey! What was that for?" he yelped in surprise and scowled angrily. From where he lay on his stomach, he turned his head and glared with indignation at the

robot that rudely offended his small appendage. Upon its release it moved between its owner's legs. The hedgehog fiercely wanted to get up and trash the robust

human-sized robot behind him beyond recognition for the offence, but found that he couldn`t. Blinking in bewilderment, he noticed that his wrists, ankles, and waist

were tightly strapped down on a metal table, making him completely unable to move anything besides his head. Not even his powerful legs could break free from the

solid restraints.

"Just checking if you`re still alive," Eggman replied viciously yet amused. He was standing only a couple of meters in front of him.

"Me breathing wasn`t enough?" a far less amused Sonic deadpanned while shifting his attention toward the human. His tail was still throbbing with pain in addition to

the splitting headache from his fight that went so wrong. He was in no mood to put up with the crazy doctor`s unfriendly antics. Eyeing the human warily, he kept

quiet without adding any further insults as he usually would do when not being in a position where he was completely at the other`s mercy. Instead he tried to

deduce what the evil genius was going to do next.

_"Probably the old gloating speech routine,"_ he thought sarcastically, and wondered whether he should do a mock yawn at the end of it or not.

Eggman ignored that last remark and proceeded to filler talk while picking up a foreign looking object. "I haven`t decided what to do with you yet since you showed

up so early and in the middle of the night, but don`t worry, I`ll think of something by tomorrow. For now I`m only going to give you a nice little tracking chip so I`ll

know exactly where you are in case you should figure out a way to escape, though I seriously doubt you will," he said, grinning evilly at the last part.

"Why would he bother to put a tracker on me?" Sonic wondered curiously, and a part of him couldn`t help but feel relieved. At least he knew the other wasn`t

planning to kill him. Not yet, anyway…

Triangular ears flattened themselves in aggression as the doctor approached him with the piercing-gun in hand. In vain he tried to flick his right ear away from the

hand reaching for it, but it was soon caught between two fingers in a firm pinch. The cold device which would give him an unwanted ear-piercing was placed on his

thin futilely twitching appendage, ready to clip a hole in it.

"Don`t think I won`t rip it off," Sonic hissed through clenched teeth.

Eggman paused. The burning determination in the emerald eyes told him that the other would likely go through with his threat.

"You`re right."

Sonic blinked in surprise as the doctor released his ear and moved away from him, his suspicious scowl didn`t leave him though. His mistrust proved justified when

his enemy shortly returned with something that resembled a giant metal syringe. The hedgehog couldn`t help but inwardly cringe at the sight.

"Injecting the tracker chip under your skin should do the trick," Eggman said in a cheerful fashion, before adding a blunt command to the robot "Gag him!"

"Wait! What? You do and I`ll…" what Sonic would do, remained a mystery as the robot forced a piece of cloth into his mouth and swiftly tied another one firmly across

his muzzle to make sure the first one stayed in place.

Unable to speak, the hedgehog gave the doctor another death glare, and his quills bristled in warning. This display had unfortunately no affect whatsoever on the evil

scientist. He merely signaled to the robot to hold down the hedgehog`s head so he wouldn`t risk getting his hands stung by the sharp spines protecting his test

subject.

Sonic growled in frustrated anger when he felt a rough grip on the scruff of his exposed neck, but it sounded somewhat weak and muffled thanks to the blasted piece

of fabric occupying his mouth. The following prick from the thick hollow needle penetrating his skin made him wince while squeezing his eyes shut in discomfort. He

shuddered from the almost tickling sensation when the syringe was pulled out, and he could feel blood seeping out of the small wound. The pressure on his head

disappeared as the scientist`s metallic servant released it, allowing the hedgehog to resume glaring.

"Shackle his legs and throw him in a cell; I`ll deal with him at a more decent hour," Eggman ordered the robot before leaving the room, without as much as a

sideways glance at the highly irritated, restrained blue blur.


	6. Chapter 5: Escape

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 5: Escape**

The robot took the last part of the task it had been appointed quite literally, and threw the hedgehog into the cell. To avoid an unpleasant encounter with the

opposing wall, Sonic twirled his body smoothly like a cat to let his feet break the oncoming hit. Effortlessly jumping down from the wall to land unharmed on the floor.

He assumed a dignified and proud posture with his arms crossed, closed eyes, and his nose in the air, just to make his point clear. No one could treat him like he was

some kind of rag doll!

Not that the robot took any notice of the indignant attitude of the carbon based life form. It had solely been built for following orders and causing destruction, and had

not been given enough artificial intelligence to translate emotions and facial expressions. So after the barred door was shut and locked by pressing a button, well out

of reach from the prisoner, it simply marched away to return to its post wherever that may be.

As soon as the footsteps no longer could be heard, Sonic immediately went to work on the knot holding the cloth over his muzzle in place. The gag was really starting

to annoy him. Not only because he couldn`t talk, but also because it absorbed all his spit and making his mouth unbearably dry. So it was with great regret he found

that the knot was tied with too much force to break it up again. Luckily, that wasn`t really a problem when the back of your head was covered in sharp quills, so after

dragging the cloth up and down a few times; the fabric was sawed in two. He spat out the much loathed gag with disgust, before using the one he had cut up to get

rid of the blood on his neck and the cheek where he had been grazed by that fateful hit.

The chains around his ankles could be a problem. Reducing him to walk instead of running, though that wouldn`t stop him from escaping. He inspected his cell

thoroughly. It only measured about four meters in width, three in depth, and it was higher up to the ceiling than he would be able to jump (even without restrictions).

Three of the walls were made out of solid metal, and the fourth was made out of thick bars. Sonic gave the latter a testing knock. It felt and sounded just like when

he bounced off the robot`s armor. That meant that the bars were as good as unbreakable to him, but what about the floor? He tapped a foot on it. _"Same material,"_

he disappointedly concluded.

He then shifted his focus toward the button controlling the cell door. He couldn`t reach it, but maybe he could throw something at it. The real question was 'what'?

There was nothing in the cold bare room…nothing.

He reached inside his quills to see if he might have stashed anything there that he might have forgotten about. No such luck. He had nothing, nothing except his

sneakers.

He stared down at them almost dumbfounded, _"That might actually work!"_

Not too happy about the prospect of throwing away his most beloved possession, he hesitantly removed one of his shoes and carefully weighed it in his hand before

taking aim.

_"Only one way to find out,"_ he thought with a hint of his old confident smile spreading.

A red and white streak cut through the air toward its goal, while wide emerald eyes watched attentively, full of expectation, without blinking. The target was hit and a

sharp 'click' was heard from the lock.

Sonic gently pushed the door and sighed with relief as it swung open, allowing him to step out.

He retrieved his sneaker, gave it a light kiss and put it back on.

Sonic had no idea where the exit was, so retracing his little tour around the base seemed to be the best option to not get lost.

He soon found out that sneaking through the corridors when he couldn`t use his speed to avoid detection from cameras, was a lot harder than getting in through the

vents. He would gladly have used those again, but there was no way he could reach them as long as he couldn`t run to build up the necessary momentum to jump

the high distance.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting for opportune moments to leap and roll to dodge away from attentive lenses, Sonic finally was back at the room he woke up

in. Not being strapped down on the table in the center helped giving him a clearer view at the rest of the room`s content. It looked almost like some kind of surgery

room, though a lot of the equipment seemed to be made for fixing and adjusting mechanical gadgets. At least he hoped so…

His gaze fell upon a large circular saw placed in a corner. _"Maybe I can finally get these blasted shackles off?" _he contemplated. He turned on the machine and

watched as it came to life. The blade was spinning faster than even he could perceive with his reflexes, and giving off a terrifying noise that made his fur rise.

Nevertheless, he jumped up on the small table, sat down, spread his legs as far away from each other as the chain allowed to get his feet as well out of harm's way

as possible, and moved them closer to the rapidly rotating saw. The blade cut through the metal instantly at contact. He quickly backed away from the buzz saw upon

his release. Knowing how lethal such a thing was since it also happened to be quite similar to one of his own personal favorite attacks. He turned the machine off in

case the noise would attract attention. He still had metal surrounding his ankles, but at least they wouldn`t hinder him from running anymore.

Sonic had just returned to the hall, when he realized that one of the cameras just outside the door was directed directly at him.

_"Uh oh,"_ was all he had time to think before the alarm once again filled the entire base with an ear-splitting din.

He had to find an exit. Fast!


	7. Chapter 6: Deal

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 6: Deal**

Walls were quickly descending from the ceiling to block his path. Sonic ran as fast as he could in a futile attempt to get out before he would once again be trapped.

Only when he had to slide under one wall to avoid getting crushed by it, did he stop. He got back up on his feet and checked the small area he had been trapped in.

No doors, no windows, and no ventilation.

Nowhere to go! And just when he thought that he had seen the main entrance too.

Sonic cursed his bad luck under his breath.

"Leaving so soon, rodent?" Eggman called mockingly from a speaker.

"Hate to overstay my welcome, and I thought I informed you that I`m not a rodent," Sonic retorted dryly through gritted teeth.

"If you wanted to get out so bad why didn`t you just say so? Let me help you."

The additional walls in front of him suddenly retracted, leaving a confused hedgehog a free path and clear view of the outside world just a few meters ahead. He

didn`t move though, this had to be a trick.

"I know you`re not just gonna let me waltz out of here! What`s the catch?" Sonic asked with clear suspicion in his voice, and scowled at the closest surveillance

camera where he suspected the doctor would be watching him from.

A cruel laughter could be heard from the speaker followed by a menacing reply spoken with a silky voice.

"You know me too well my boy. Do you remember that tracking chip I installed you with?"

"Ugh, how could I forget THAT?" the blue hedgehog said rhetorically with disgust, making sure not to unintentionally reach for his sore neck at the reminder.

"Well, I forgot to tell you that it contains a small amount of explosives that will detonate if you don`t follow my orders. If you had let me put it on your ear it would

merely have scarred your face, but where it is placed now…" Eggman paused for dramatic effect, and let the horrible truth sink in "…it will kill you instantly".

Sonic paled and felt a chill run down his spine, but refused to show any sign of fear, and only suppressed anger could be traced in his next words. "And exactly what

are your orders?"

"Bring me the last three emeralds. You have until sunset or else…" the evil doctor trailed suggestively off.

Emerald eyes hardened and their owner turned toward the exit, not wanting to waste the limited time on meaningless chitchat, but before he had time to leave he

was addressed once more.

"To make sure you won`t tell any of your pesky little friends about this and ask for their help, I`ll have a spy-bot watching your every move." As if on cue, a small

yellow robot disguised as a hummingbird appeared and hovered a couple of meters above the hedgehog who gave it a disapproving frown. "Make sure to stay in view

of it at all times, and make sure not to break the sound barrier as it will not be able to keep up with that kind of speed. You already know the consequence if you

disobey. Oh I almost forgot! Good luck…you`re gonna need it."

"Thanks," Sonic replied sarcastically before speeding off through the enormous open exit and disappearing between the trees in a nearby forest, closely followed by

the little mechanical bird.

The grass covered ground was still moist with dewdrops, and the morning air felt refreshing after spending so much time indoors. The cerulean hedgehog didn`t take

much notice of this though, except from being extra careful not to slip on the wet undergrowth on the forest floor, his mind was occupied with more urgent thoughts.

_"Okay hedgehog, think! Tails has one emerald that he uses to power up the plane with. I could pick that one up for a starter to help me locate the remaining two. I`m _

_pretty sure Shadow had one the last time I saw him, but Chaos knows where he might be right now! Besides I doubt he`ll just hand it over to me, so I need to figure _

_out a strategy there for whenever I do run into him. I don`t know anything about the location of the third one. If anyone did find it, they've kept it a secret. Although, _

_it might still be hidden at some random remote place, not that that would necessarily make it any easier to find. I just hope it`s not at the bottom of the sea or _

_something…"_ he trailed off with a slightly worried expression at the idea of delving into water. He loathed that element as much as he loved his own, the wind, and

prayed to higher powers that the third gem would be located someplace dry.


	8. Chapter 7: Anxiety

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 7: Anxiety**

It was still pretty early, and the birds had barely begun to sing their morning songs to greet the first glimmers of sunshine. However, a certain young two-tailed fox

had already been up for hours. Worry had deprived him of sleep. He knew his older brother had mentioned something about him going on a mission and that he

shouldn`t wait up, but why go in the middle of the night and leave him in the dark about what he was planning to do and not to mention; when he could expect him

to come back? Pacing back and forth, he had waited for the reckless hedgehog to return for several hours with increasing concern. By all means, the blue speed

demon did indeed tend to disappear for hours and even days without a word without him fretting about it, but somehow it felt different this time. It wasn`t like Sonic

to rush off that late to do a mission, especially not when there were no known threats lurking about. Even though he often joked about 'danger' being his middle

name, he usually didn`t go looking for it. Maybe he had grown bored of waiting for something to happen.

_"I guess things have been rather quiet for a while, but…"_ Tails` trail of thoughts was abruptly interrupted by a sudden gust of wind blowing by so fiercely that his fur

and twin tails almost got blown along with it.

"Sonic?" he asked with a baffled expression on his face. He tried to straighten the windswept look on his fur as he followed the direction the 'wind' had taken into his

garage.

Upon entering the room, he discovered the Blue Blur by their plane. His distracted older brother didn`t seem to notice him at all as he approached him, and almost

jumped in surprise when the fox cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Tails!" the startled hedgehog exclaimed, before regaining his cool composure. "Up with the birds I see."

"Uh, yeah…how did it go?" the fox asked and without waiting for an answer, added a second question when seeing what Sonic was doing. "Why are you removing the

chaos emerald from the plane?"

"I need it," was the short reply.

"What for? Did something happen?"

Sonic got a brief uneasy look on his face and glanced toward the window, but it was over so quick that Tails was unsure whether he might just have imagined it or

not.

"Nah, nothing out of the ordinary," he answered casually, stashed the deep blue gem inside his quills, and sped off with a 'see ya later bro'.

The fox wasn`t too surprised about not getting a proper explanation, which was considered perfectly normal behavior from his crazy impulsive older brother, but he

couldn`t get rid of the feeling that something was off.

_"At least I know he`s fine,"_ Tails thought with an exasperated sigh.

* * *

The tired, confused, and slightly annoyed look on the fox hadn`t gone unnoticed by Sonic. It pained him to not be able to explain himself and tell him not to worry,

but he didn`t dare to as long as he was being watched. If he had stayed to talk with his little brother, he feared that Eggman might interpret it as a coded message

and just kill him then and there. Even though he might be willing to sacrifice himself to stop the evil scientist, he didn`t have a death wish and most certainly didn`t

want Tails to witness something that traumatizing. As long as there was life in him, he would try to figure out a way to beat his enemy. Hope hadn`t deserted him

yet, and he sure as hell wasn`t one to give up that easily.

Another reason for not staying was because of the deadline he had been given, with an extra stress on the 'dead' part of the noun. He had to find the remaining two

emeralds today! Not an easy task, but at least he had a fighting chance at it with one gem to warn him whenever he got close to one of the others. Speaking of

which, he could feel the blue gem reacting. He stopped in his tracks and reached a hand inside his head quills to retrieve the precious stone. It was glowing faintly, a

clear sign that one of its different colored brothers would be nearby.

Emerald eyes skimmed over their current location. He had at random taken a path that had led him through a forest, over a grass covered meadow, over some

mountains, and had finally led him to what he would characterize as a dense jungle where he so far had been forced to move above the ground up in the trees. He

leaped down from his high position and started to slowly make his way through the many wild growing roots and bushes below. He constantly had to swat off

mosquitos that seemed to take a particularly interest in his not fully healed wounds, which he guessed must have attracted the bothersome bloodsuckers in the first

place. Finding anything in the thick undergrowth would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. That is, if he hadn`t had an emerald to help him. As the stone`s

glow increased, so did his spirit. When he was sure that he must be so close to his target that he would almost step on it, he froze as he suddenly became aware that

he had walked straight into a small clearing in the jungle. The reason for the plant-free zone was because they were unable to grow in this particular area, which of

course happened to be a lake.


	9. Chapter 8: Aquaphobia

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 8: Aquaphobia**

"Of all the rotten places a chaos emerald could land," Sonic muttered huffily. He lay on his stomach with his head propped up on his elbows, staring with narrowed

eyes at the muddy water in front of him as if it had done him personally wrong, loathing it with every fiber in his body. Just the thought of a large mass of this

element could make him mentally cringe, and now he was supposed to simply delve into it?

Since he couldn`t see the bottom of the lake from the shore, he had no way of telling how deep it would be. His little experiment, involved him finding a stick longer

than himself and prodding it into the accursed liquid, revealed that it was more than deep enough to completely immerse him in his greatest phobia.

It wasn`t like he was completely inexperienced in missions withunderwater action in his past, but at leastthen the water was transparent so he could see his

surroundings. Not to mention that it also made it possible for him to detect air bubbles every now and then, which on several occasions proved to be vital as he often

had to go through pipes and caves where he could have easily drowned.

_"Bet Eggman hasn`t seen me acting this cautious before,"_ Sonic mused to himself when his little yellow stalker caught his attention by flying closer. He could hear

the camera lenses disguised as eyes zooming in on him, no doubt wondering why he didn`t just dive head first into the lake. Reminded that he was being watched,

anger brought back some of his reckless attitude and he decided to ignore his irrational fear and fetch that stupid rock before it cost him his life…and dignity.

His reckless bravery only stretched as far as to tying one end of a thick vine around his waist and the other around a sturdy tree trunk as a precaution. With that

done, he approached the lake, carefully concealing how nervous he felt by taking determined strides and biting the inner side of his lower lip hard enough to produce

something he hoped resembled a stern frown on his face.

Sonic couldn`t stop a gasp from escaping him when he slid down into the cool water. He took a deep breath before letting go of the edge and sinking to the bottom.

He was scarcely able to see his own hands in front of him, let alone any hidden gems. All he couldgo by was the faint glow of the emerald he already had, blindly

following it whenever he saw it growing brighter when he held it out in certain directions. Just when he decided to go back before he drowned, he almost stepped on

the very cause of his miserable situation. _"I bet you landed here just for the hell of it_," he thought grudgingly while picking the faintly glowing white gem up. His

lungs were now screaming for air and he had no idea how far out he was, but luckily he could just trace the vine he was attached to back to land, if he only could

make it back in time. His vision began to get blurry and his usually boundless energy seemed to desert him.

_"Just a little bit further,"_ he tried to encourage himself when reaching the wall where the vine went straight up. All that was left was to drag his body upwards onto

dry land. With increasingly limp arms, he finally managed to pull himself out of the water.

As soon as he had crawled half a meter ashore, Sonic rolled over to lay on his back for a few minutes, trying to regain control of his breathing. When done, he got

back onto his feet.

His soaking wet fur clinging to his skin felt uncomfortable so he leapt up in the air and spun rapidly, causing drops of water to rain in every direction. When he

landed, he was almost dry again.

With both emeralds safely stashed inside his quills, he was one step closer to surviving the day. "Two down and only one more to go," he exclaimed triumphantly and

couldn`t help but fist pump in exhilaration. However, Sonic`s burst of excitement quickly wore off when realizing exactly who he had to find to get the last emerald

(and why he had to get them in the first place).

He was well aware of how annoying the other one found him at the best of times, not to mention how aggressive and uncooperative he could become when not. Of

course, he also had to actually find his elusive rival too. Since the black hedgehog rarely had any contact with others, preferring to be left alone with his own gloomy

company, and often travelled some of the most remote places on the planet to keep it that way, the emerald he carried could easily become the trickiest one to find.

The blue hedgehog sighed heavily while putting his gloves back on after wringing them dry.

Drowning in the lake suddenly didn`t sound so bad in comparison to his next task…


	10. Chapter 9: Shadow

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 9: Shadow**

Sonic searched high and low for hours without even a hint of where his lookalike rival could be found and he was well aware of the inescapable fact that he was

running out of time, one of the few things he could not outrun, and it certainly didn`t help that he couldn`t even make full use of his speed.

So far he had managed to keep his worries at a distant, which wasn`t too hard considering how easily distracted he could be. The many dates he failed to show up on

proof enough of his forgetful nature, although he never forgot the ones he deemed important (like the one he had for today). But the sun was about to set and there

was still no sign from the two emeralds indicating whether he was close to the third or not, and he was beginning to get a little bit anxious. His left hand gently

rubbed his neck where he could feel the tiny lump under his skin and winced. _"Less than an hour left…"_ he thought grimly.

For the past two minutes he had been following a trail through the forest close to Eggman`s base and thought that he had gotten too close to it when he got a faint

reaction from the chaos emeralds, and changed his course away from it. When the reaction only got stronger, he halted.  
_  
"Here?"_ he thought confused for a second, but didn`t waste more time on wondering before exploring the area.

He took a turn leading to a cliff where he had a nice view of the sun setting in the horizon coloring the sky with warm tones of orange. The beautiful view of the sun`s

temporary demise, however, only reminded him of what could soon be his permanent one. Besides, what really had caught his attention was a certain black hedgehog

admiring said view seemingly lost in thought some meters ahead of him.

Normally Sonic wouldn't think twice before greeting the grouchy black hedgehog, which he every now and then challenged into races or even fights just for the fun of

it, but things were a little bit different for the time being. So it was with great caution he approached his red streaked rival. Careful not to let the other know his

presence, because normally the blue blur`s life wouldn`t depend on the outcome…

Sonic`s first thought was to simply tackle him to the ground and take it, but the other`s quills would cut him up pretty badly and even if it was a price he would be

willing to pay, there was no way Shadow would just let him get away with it.

Before he could think of any wiser way to get what he so desperately needed, Shadow sighed in annoyance and unexpectedly addressed him without turning his gaze.

"This better be important, Sonic". The last word uttered through clenched teeth and filled with enough resentment to let the blue hedgehog know he was not in the

mood for any antics.

Sonic swallowed nervously. He had not planned on getting detected so fast and Shadow sounded hostile already before he had had time to do or say anything. _"How _

_promising,"_ he thought sarcastically before replying, "Chill, I`m not here to play around".

"Then what are you here for?" Shadow asked with the enthusiasm of an undertaker.

The cerulean hedgehog noticed that the other hadn`t bothered to look at him yet, merely staring stiffly forward with crossed arms. Since he was standing so still and

rigid, perhaps he could safely snatch the emerald before the black one had time to react?

Sonic took a last glance at the sun about to disappear and made his decision. _"Worth a shot. Sorry Shads_," he thought upon seeing his remaining time about to fade

out. In the blink of an eye, he reached inside the sharp red and black quills without getting stung and closed his hand around the red gem and pulling it out to finally

answer the question asked. "This!" He turned and ran, ran through the forest as fast as he dared. When he heard rocket shoes blazing up after an angry outburst

vaguely sounding like 'faker', he quickly peeked over his shoulder. Shadow was closing in. He had been concerned this would happen, but had also thought of a

possible solution. He took the chase to a different level up in the trees. By sliding, jumping, and swinging from branch to branch, he could easily keep the same speed

he recently had below on the ground. He doubted the other would be used to that kind of terrain which might give him the upper hand.

Unfortunately for Sonic, Shadow had little trouble catching up with the blue blur even if doing so required him to follow in the other`s crazy footsteps above the

ground.

The two of them were almost flying through the treetops. Sonic tried slowing his pursuer down by bending a smaller branch intending to let it smack in the other`s

face, but the attempt was in vain after a well-aimed chaos spear had reduced it to ashes. Another spear was in rapid succession thrown at the next intended landing

spot of red sneakers, making their owner tumble down to the leaf covered ground. He landed softly on his feet, but was smacked painfully down by someone landing

heavily on top of him. "Gah! Get off of me!"

The one landing on top of him complied, but only until he had gotten back up on his feet. After that, Sonic was roughly pushed against a tree and held in place by

Shadow`s lower arm pressing on his chest and the free arm raised warningly into a fist aimed at the hedgehog`s face.

Burning ruby eyes were only inches away from surprised emerald ones who briefly wondered if Eggman might be saved the trouble of pushing that button pretty

soon…

"Please…just…let me go," the blue hedgehog pleaded, and stopped squirming while looking somewhat nervous or…, Shadow thought,…perhaps more like scared.

Though something told him that his blue counterpart wasn`t actually scared of 'him', so then what could be the cause of the other`s distress?

'Mercy' wasn`t exactly Shadow`s nature, but then again, Sonic wasn`t one to resort to pleading, nor stealing for that matter, either. Something had to be terribly

wrong. At least that was the only explanation for his rival`s unusual behavior that he could think of, and decided to inspect that theory further.

"Why?" Shadow inquired calmly without loosening his hold.

Emerald eyes showed uncertainty and their owner seemed to be struggling with some inner battle. "I…I can`t tell you," he finally answered hesitantly in a defeated

tone, while his gaze shifted away from the analyzing stare from his captor in an almost shameful manner.

"Something is definitely off," Shadow thought while inwardly scoffing at what he was about to do.

Sonic felt the pressure on his chest leave and disappear, and gave the other a quizzical look. Not really daring to believe that he was off the hook 'that' easily.

"You`re…letting me go?" the cerulean one asked tentatively, voice slightly tinged with hope, his face reflecting insecurity and he didn`t quite dare take off yet out of

fear of getting hunted down again.

The red streaked hedgehog remained silent, but gave a small nod as a reply.

Sonic`s face brightened up and he gave his rival a weak lopsided smile before he turned and left in a hurry.

Unbeknownst to Sonic, or the mechanical bird, Shadow decided to tail after him at a distance.


	11. Chapter 10: Control

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 10: Control**

"I almost thought you wouldn`t show up," Eggman said in mock surprise over a speaker when Sonic was just outside the main entrance.

"Believe me when I say it was very tempting not to," was the scoffed reply of the hedgehog. He acted bored his posture confident, one hand on his hip while

pretending to study his other. Tapping a foot impatiently, waiting for his enemy to let him in.

"I think I actually would have preferred if you hadn`t," the doctor mumbled while pressing the button to open the large entrance.

"Sorry to disappoint," Sonic said sarcastically with a small smirk, in a voice too low for anyone but him to hear, before he walked inside the base.

First he was instructed to hand over the three emeralds to one of the two robots waiting for him just inside. When that was done, he had to follow the second one to a

fairly small empty windowless room where the doctor himself was waiting for him.

"Nice of you to drop in, Sonic. Since I know how curious you were about my latest plans, I think it is about time I showed you the great invention I`ve been working

on for so long," the human said proudly.

Sonic was confused. He had thought that the improved robots had been his entire scheme. What else did he have up his sleeve? Before he had time to ask any

questions, Eggman held a small object in front of surprised emerald eyes.

The immediate reaction to the scientist`s latest creation was that of disbelief.

"That`s your great invention?! It`s…well…I don't know…kind of small?" Sonic asked tentatively while stifling a snicker.

"Size isn`t everything and I assure you that this brilliant little device will make anyone obey me without the need of threats and…"

"Lame," the hedgehog interrupted bluntly.

"What?" the doctor asked in a voice verging between curiosity and irritation.

"You heard me, the mind control idea isn`t exactly original if you get my drift. It`s just tacky," Sonic replied conversationally while devoting his full attention to

straightening his gloves. Acting as if he didn`t have a care in the world.

All just for show of course, and he just loved to rile up his enemies by pretending to ignore them. Judging by the increasingly red face in front of him, it was working

too.

"That is of no consequence, and I can`t remember asking for your opinion," the human scolded huffily before giving the robot behind the hedgehog a signal.

Strong metal claws was suddenly encircling Sonic`s peach arms in a vice-like grip.

"Hey!" the hedgehog yelped in protest.

Ignoring the pained yelp, the scientist continued in a calmer voice. "It`s just a prototype and I haven`t had an opportunity to test it out on a sapient yet, but if it

works I`ll be sure to make an improved version and install it on you in a more permanent manner," Eggman said with an ominous smirk while approaching him with

the intention of placing the device on the hedgehog`s neck.

Sonic tried to struggle free from the tight grip, but it was to no avail and he only accomplished bruising himself. He had masked his fear pretty well so far and kept a

cool attitude, but this was a bit much even for him.

He started to kick wildly in an attempt to keep the doctor`s hands away. The evil scientist wisely held his distance while his guinea pig flailed his powerful legs. Even

a weak poorly aimed kick from the blue speed demon could easily be compared to a direct kick from an enraged horse.

"Calm down unless you want me to activate that chip of yours," Eggman threatened.

The blue hedgehog complied, but not without letting out a low snarl as the human placed the small gadget on his neck and it swiftly transformed to something

resembling a choker.

"Now let`s find out if it works"…

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

* * *

Shadow couldn`t quite believe what he had just witnessed. Sonic entering his lifelong enemy`s base simply by knocking on the front door!  
_  
"He`s working for Eggman?"_ he thought slowly, trying to make sense out of it without succeeding. Whatever his rival was up to Shadow was determined to find out,

but not until dark. He had a strong feeling that attempting to follow Sonic`s example for entering the fortress would end in him being caught in a rain of bullets and

missiles. And, thanks to the blue idiot, he no longer possessed the means to enter with chaos control.

"Curse that hedgehog!" Shadow muttered annoyed.


	12. Chapter 11: Loss of Control

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 11: Loss of Control**

"I order you to 'not' call me something insulting," Eggman commanded, knowing that the hedgehog wouldn`t be able to resist disobeying if he could.

"Whatever you say," Sonic answered monotonously with a blank expression, before a wicked spark appeared in his eyes and he added teasingly "Baldy McNosehair".

"What?!" Eggman barked, before he regained composure and tried to figure out what went wrong. His face brightened as he arrived to a conclusion.

"Silly me, I forgot to turn it on". He pulled out a hand-sized computer and typed in the command for activating his invention.

The blue hedgehog felt a small spark run through his body, but when it was over he didn`t feel any different.

"I`m going to ask the robot to release you and when it does I want you to stay put and not move," the doctor said without a hint of doubt that his order would be

carried through.  
_  
"The moment this overgrown toy of yours releases me, I`ll help myself with that remote,"_ Sonic thought determinedly.

The robot was ordered to let go of its captive and complied immediately. Its former captive desperately wanted to ignore his order, but found that he couldn`t.

He was fully conscious and aware of everything going on around him, but it was as if his entire body had fallen asleep and wouldn`t listen to him at all.

It wasn`t his mind being controlled, it was his body. His feelings about that revelation were mixed. Relieved to not be a mindless slave, but increasingly anxious over

not being able to move a muscle as his enemy sauntered toward him.

He tried to focus on moving his right arm. Nothing happened. He tried again, repeating over and over in his head _"move dammit!"_

His index finger responded with a barely noticeable twitch. Not nearly enough to save him from a slap across the face from the doctor. Apparently, the previous insult

hadn`t been forgotten and he probably wanted to make sure that his invention actually worked.

"Not so cocky now, are we?" Eggman teased with a vicious smirk.

Sonic`s left cheek burned where he had been hit. He gritted his teeth and glared daggers in response.

"Well, well, seems like someone hasn`t lost their spirit. Rest assured that there are other ways to take care of that little flaw," the human grumbled. He was

disappointed that his mind controller didn`t work exactly as he planned, but cheered up quick enough at the prospect of being able to torment his much loathed

nemesis, who would be fully aware and unable to do anything when being mocked and forced to be a servant.

Sonic could tell all too easily by the changes in the doctor`s expressions that plans for breaking his will were already in motion. Frustrated he directed his gaze stiffly

toward the green tiled floor, not wanting to look at the evil scientist revel at his misfortune any longer.

However, a hand lifted his chin to eyelevel. Wanting to see the reaction when announcing his captive`s fate.

"Personal space please," Sonic complained bluntly, cutting off whatever the doctor had been about to say.

"What are you gonna do about it? Bite me?" Eggman taunted. What he hadn`t expected though, was that the blue blur actually did take him up on his challenge,

yanked his head free from the grasp and bit the hand.  
_  
"I can still interpret whatever you say however I want,"_ Sonic thought with a certain smug satisfaction, as he had just chosen to take the doctor`s last remark as an

order instead of a question meant to mock him.

The human hissed in pain "Let go!"

Sonic had no choice but to let go when given a clear command, but he might actually have consented to let go even if he had been in full control of his body anyway.

Normally Sonic wouldn't have bitten Eggman on the grounds of not being a feral beast, but he would use what little of his free will he had left to show that he could

not be controlled. That his willpower was unbreakable, even if he could no longer control his body at the moment.

"Be careful of what you say doc," Sonic teased and wiped his muzzle with the back of his gloved hand, realizing that the last command`s effect grew weaker when

given a new command.

"Shut it! If this gets infected you`re dead, and don`t think this will go unpunished," the human barked.

The hedgehog merely raised an eye ridge unimpressed. "And what pray tell will that punishment be? Listening to you for more than ten minutes?"

"Don`t worry I had something considerably more painful in mind, and I`ll leave you for tonight to wonder what it`ll be," the doctor said in a menacingly calm voice.

He walked over to the door, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "Oh, and I order you not to move away from that tile you`re standing on until I return. Is

that clear?"

At first, Sonic glared in answer before deciding not to push his luck and replied with a reluctant 'crystal'. Besides, it wasn`t like his body would let him disobey

anyhow.

Eggman left the room, closely followed by his robot.

Sonic huffed and sat down on the floor with crossed legs. Truth be told, he was tired. He hadn`t had a proper rest nor eaten the entire day.

And on top of that, he had been on the move the entire time. The tiles wasn`t as cold as the metallic ones covering most of the fortress` floors, but was still hard

enough to be a bit uncomfortable to sleep on.

At the moment though, he was too annoyed to sleep; annoyed by the fact that he had been tagged like some kind of pet dog with a tendency of running away,

annoyed that he was practically collared.

He hated it. He tugged at it to check how solid it was, and wasn`t too surprised to find that it was made out of that new metal the scientist seemed to be so fond of

using on everything lately.

The worst part of his current situation, was that he didn`t even have an option to disobey anymore like earlier today when he only risked getting blown up by doing

it.

He had to muse at that thought, carefully repeating it word for word before reaching a conclusion. _"Maybe I should consider a new career path"._


	13. Chapter 12: Rebel

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 12: Rebel**

After about ten minutes of sitting on the hard floor, Sonic became stiff and had to get up to stretch his legs.

His face still stung dimly where he had been hit, but he didn`t pay it much attention. He certainly wasn`t a stranger to pain, and a slap across the face was hardly

worth his attention. What had really been hurt was his pride. It had been degrading to just stand there without being able to do anything to prevent or do anything

about it. Granted, he had taken revenge, but the manner he had done it resembled too much of that of an aggressive pet. Somehow that thought actually brought out

a small humorless chuckle from him. "Good luck trying to tame me Baldy," he muttered smiling sarcastically.

Against hope and with nothing else to do to prevent him from going stir-crazy, he began testing out if it was possible for him to move away from the small spot he

had been confined to. He wasn`t too surprised that his body wouldn`t allow him to leave the tile, freezing in place as if paralyzed at every attempt. No matter how

hard he tried, he found that he had to have at least one foot or finger on it at all times.

Frustrated about the fact that an unlocked door was just a few feet away and the only thing stopping him from reaching it was…himself, he stomped his right foot

irritably on the green flooring, causing small cracks to appear in the cement between the tiles.

Sonic blinked, stunned at first, before the pleasure of having a light bulb moment came and a broad smile crept upon his face.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

* * *

Most of the lights were no longer lit at the base, and the world was nearly pitch-black. The moon covered by a thin layer of clouds hardly provided any light at all. Not

that he needed it. His red eyes, genetically engineered to see in darkness almost as clear as in day, had no trouble leading their owner safely over the ground without

him tripping.

Shadow had sought out an open vent practically begging to be used, and cautiously approached it in case it was some kind of trick meant to lure him in.

When he had reached his goal, he took a long judgmental look at the gaping hole before deeming it a careless slip of the doctor instead of a cunningly planted trap

and climbed in. He strongly detested being reduced to crawling on all fours like some feral animal. His usual, and preferred, way of entering a place like this would

consist of a very literal way of the term 'breaking and entering', but he had a feeling that whatever sort of trouble his rival had gotten himself mixed up in was a

delicate and complicated one. Besides rushing in without thinking, like some wannabe hero he knew, wasn`t exactly his style either, he thought with a small sarcastic

hint of a smile.

* * *

_Back inside…_

* * *

A blue wind, too fast for any camera to detect, raced through the corridors, only stopping for a brief second at every door to check if anything useful could be found

behind it.

So far nothing had caught his attention. All of the doors looked the same, and none of them had any signs. Most of the rooms contained machinery he did not know

the purpose of. One room, which looked just as any of the other on the outside, proved to be something as 'exciting' as a well-equipped broom closet.  
_  
"How does he find his way in here? It`s like a maze,"_ Sonic mused. He remembered that he had used an elevator to get down to the current floor he was roaming,

which meant that he wouldn`t find any of the rooms he previously had been to and knew. His best bet would be to get back up to where he knew where he could find

the saw he had used on his shackles earlier, and find out if it could get the choker off too. Even if it was far from working as he intended, the heavy square-shaped

burden he carried under his left arm served as an embarrassing reminder that it certainly worked to some degree.

There had been a camera in the elevator, so that mean of transportation was out of the question, but there had to be stairs somewhere. As often as Eggman`s

hideouts tended to get destroyed, in which the blue blur often had had a hand in, there were bound to be several emergency exits ready if such a calamity should

occur.

Eggman apparently had no use of marking these exits, probably knowing his own maze-like chunk of metal like the back of his own hand.

The fastest thing alive wasn`t slowed down more than a couple of minutes though, before he finally opened a door leading to a spiraling staircase. Wasting no more

than a second to scan the place for any surveillance that needed to be avoided, he sped upwards to enter the floor above. He quickly recognized where he was. He

ran fast down the hallway with light steps, more careful when in closer proximity to his enemy. Stopping at every corner to listen, not wanting to be surprised by a

robot. Downstairs there had been no more than two for him to evade from, but upstairs there had been a few more. All just standing motionless like statues awaiting

orders while guarding nothing in particular. Perhaps on the lookout for intruders or, Sonic mentally added, stray hedgehogs.

He was just about to rush around yet another corner when his ears pricked up at the sound of footsteps. Tensing up, quills raising defensively, he briefed through his

options which narrowed down to; run, attack, or hide.


	14. Chapter 13: Reunion

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 13: Reunion**

A patrolling robot rounded the corner where the blue hedgehog had stood only a second ago. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, it continued on its way without a

pause and was soon enough out of sight.

A small sigh of relief escaped the cerulean hedgehog hanging from the ceiling. A few moments ago he had noticed a pipe just above him and, in a split second,

jumped up and clung to it with his legs and right hand. His left hand was still occupied by the heavy tile which he strained to hold up next to him so it wouldn`t

dangle straight in front of the glowing lenses of the tall metallic guard.

Deciding that the corridor should be safe again, he began to loosen his cramped clutch around the pipe. He carefully let himself slip out of his grip with the intent of

landing softly on the floor below. Expecting to land on a smooth hard surface, his shock was therefore great when his sneakers made contact with something soft and

living.

Whoever he landed on was instantly knocked down on impact, while Sonic himself lost footing and fell on his back with a surprised yelp. Closing his eyes shut at the

sudden impact and, believing that it was the doctor, lashed out with the tile-holding hand heavily at the top of the other`s head. Hoping it would knock the other

unconscious before he had time to call out a command.

When the pained groan caused by his action did not belong to whom he thought it would, he opened his eyes in disbelief to stare at...

"Shadow?" he called out in astonishment as he watched his dark counterpart rubbing his head, wincing slightly as he massaged the offended area.

"Yes," the other hissed through his teeth. Gathering every ounce of self-control he could muster not to attack or yell at the other. Clinging to the knowledge that the

blue idiot didn`t act so stupid on purpose. Just on accident. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to make a scene in the middle of their mutual enemy`s lair.

It started to down on Sonic what he had actually done as they both got up on their feet, and he awkwardly scratched himself behind an ear. "Sorry," he mumbled in

apology and added a little bit louder with a trace of concern in his voice "Are you okay?"

"What do you think? You hit me in the head with a…" here the peeved hedgehog had to pause as he wasn`t entirely sure what he had actually been hit with "…with

whatever that is," he finished off huffily while gesturing toward the tile.

"A floor tile," Sonic answered simply without any further explanation.

One of Shadow`s eye ridges marginally rose to change his expression into a slightly curious one. "I`m almost afraid to ask, but; why are you even carrying

something like that?"

The cerulean hedgehog sighed "Do I have to explain that now?"

"You had the audacity to steal from me and somehow convinced me to let you get away with it too, so I think you owe me that much. And since you refused to tell

me on our last encounter I decided to find out on my own, but so far I`m even more puzzled by your behavior than before," the dark hedgehog replied sternly.

"You`re right, I do owe you an explanation," the cerulean hedgehog agreed. "It`s sort of a long story though, so I think we should move our conversation someplace

safer."

"There`s a kitchen nearby," Shadow suggested.

"That`ll do," the rather famished and parched hedgehog chirped eagerly, which earned him another raised eye ridge from his rival.

Shadow led the way to the kitchen, which was where he had entered a few moments ago before being knocked down by a certain blue clown.

Said blue clown immediately began to raid the refrigerator and kitchen cupboards for food as soon as they had entered the room, making the other mentally face

palm.

Upon noticing the other one`s irritated frown, Sonic figured that the small pile of bread and fruit he hurriedly had gathered on top of the tile, that had currently been

promoted to a plate, were enough and sat down on a chair to tell him about his situation. Before he began, he also noticed something else about his grumpy

lookalike…

"How did you get inside? It`s not like you could have chaos controlled without an emerald," the blue one asked in what he hoped was an innocent tone.

"I have my methods," Shadow said mysteriously, not wanting to share that mildly embarrassing information.

"Think I`ll translate that to 'ventilation shafts'," Sonic teased.

"How did you know?" the previously black now grey colored hedgehog asked mildly baffled.

"Intuition," was the slick reply accompanied by a light shrug, before pointing randomly at his arm and adding "oh, and you have a spot right there." Truth be told, he

might as well had gestured to all of him, because he was covered in dust from top to toe. Sonic himself had gotten rid of his share of dust bunnies at his first homing

attack yesterday.

Shadow huffed in annoyance when he finally discovered the reason for Sonic`s amusement, and started to brush his fur clean while his blue rival took the opportunity

to munch down on his food.

When they were finished with each of their respective tasks, Sonic told about his misadventures that had led him to be the disobedient and unwilling minion of the

evil doctor.

"So? Think you can help me outta this mess?" Sonic asked hopefully when he was done.

Shadow went silent for a little while, seemingly lost in thought, before he spoke. "I think I`ve got a plan that will solve this troublesome ordeal you`re in and finish

off what you unsuccessfully attempted, but it requires that you wear that…" he pointed at the choker around his rival`s neck, "a little longer and stand still for a

moment." The black hedgehog came toward the blue one, who twisted uneasy in his chair by the look of the sudden callous smirk that had appeared on the other`s

muzzle.

"Ehm, Shads? What are you playing at?" Sonic asked nervously.

"I promise it`ll be over in a second and that it won`t hurt…much."


	15. Chapter 14: Misdirecting

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 14: Misdirecting**  
_  
"That smug liar!"_ Sonic thought peevishly while carefully backtracking to the room he had so recently managed to escape from. _"That hurt a lot!"_

He didn`t like Shadow`s plan so far. Not…one…bit. But it wasn`t like he could come up with anything better. He wasn`t one to think ahead in a dangerous situation,

he was far more spontaneous, rather making thing up as he went. Though, for the moment, he consented to his rival`s seemingly inane plan and played along. Ready

to improvise if something went wrong, believing 'when' to be more likely than 'if'.

The first part he had to do was to go back and pretend he never left the room Eggman unsuccessfully had ordered him to stay in. Meanwhile Shadow would be free to

find a way to destroy the base with the doctor being under a false belief that he had everything under control, including the blue blur himself.

Admittedly, he liked the idea of tricking Eggman, but not the part where he still had to wear the choker which forced him to follow any crazy order the human could

think of. He had tried to persuade his red streaked counterpart to, at the very least, find a way to deactivate the mind controller and just act like he was under

control, but it had been to no avail. Apparently the black hedgehog either didn`t believe that he could act convincingly enough or he thought that the scientist

probably would notice if his own invention was malfunctioning. Shadow was probably right about that last part. Not that he would ever admit it! Especially not when

he was mad at him…

Before he even realized, he had already arrived at his destination. At first he wasn`t sure of what to do, but figured that returning the tile he was still carrying to its

rightful place would be a nice start.

Why the black one needed so much time that Sonic would have to spend the night as a pretend captive so he could deceive his captor in the morning, was beyond his

comprehension.  
_  
"I would never be that slow!"_ he grumbled while crouching down to return the missing piece of the puzzle to the floor, and sat down on it.

Despite the hard uncomfortable surface, the basic need to sleep overcame him and heavy eyelids finally closed as he curled up on the floor, almost into a ball to save

heat, with one arm as a cushion.

* * *

_Next morning…_

* * *

When Eggman came to see his captive early in the morning, he found him exactly where he had left him. Evidently in a deep sleep as he didn`t even stir at the

doctor`s arrival. Amused, by the sight of the completely oblivious curled up form lying in front of him. An opportunity like that just had to be taken advantage of. A

mischievous smirk started to spread under the large mustache.

"Pinch your nose," Eggman ordered.

The unconscious hedgehog unwittingly complied to cut off his own air supply, effectively and abruptly awakening him to gasp for breath with a comically surprised

look on his face.

The human chuckled at the exasperated groan and indignant look the smaller one gave him when he realized what was going on, still somewhat glassy eyed for not

being fully awake yet.

Sonic lifted his tired body up to a standing position and tried to clear up his head. He was supposed to play along wasn`t he? Since the smug and confident face of his

enemy was leering down at him at the moment, it meant that Shadow had not yet found a way to destroy the base and needed more time. His ears drooped in

disappointment at that revelation.

"Let`s start the day with a little basic obedience training shall we," the human said sounding a little too cheerful.  
_  
"Let`s not!"_ thought the hedgehog glumly while remaining silent, warily observing the crazy doctor and trying to predict what he had in store for him. Whatever it

was though, he was sure he wouldn`t like it, but he didn`t want to flee the scene just yet.

Maybe it wouldn`t be too bad…"Sit," was the short and abrupt command from the human. …but then again, he could be wrong. It could be even worse than he first

imagined.

Sonic almost fell down on his rear as his mind, still drowsy, hadn`t been prepared to interpret any commands to do it more gently.

"Do I look like a dog to you!" the hedgehog scolded with a flushed and furious grimace. He felt that he wouldn`t be able to take much of that kind of humiliation.

"Shut up! I can`t remember giving you any 'speak'-commands, dog," the doctor sneered wittily.  
_  
"That`s it!"_ the hedgehog thought, eyes ablaze, as his jaws unwillingly clamped shut. He would rather face a livid Shadow than enduring the degrading 'training' any

longer. All he needed was a careless command.

"That`s more like it. Now roll over".  
_  
"Bingo!"_ Sonic thought with satisfaction. He was quite experienced with rolling over, that is, rolling over his opponents. Without hesitation he curled himself into a

spiky ball and bounced toward an astounded Eggman, knocked him off his feet by impact, landed on top of the man`s round belly, and rolled off the top and out of

the room. After completing 'rolling over', he was able to fully control his body again. He performed a second bounce and uncurled in midair to land smoothly on his

feet, then looked over his shoulder with a snicker. His smile faltered when he saw the doctor open his mouth to shout out a command, but quickly covered his ears

before any words had been uttered and made a run for it.

Shortly after, the human got back on his feet. "Initialize complete shut down," he ordered into a small communicator with a heavy sigh while rubbing his temples, and

watched as his base once again locked every door and dropped every single additional wall to trap the spiky fugitive.

The wayward hedgehog had proven the mind control invention he had spent so long on developing close to useless when anyone he put it on could ignore his

commands by simply covering their ears. Not to forget the interpretation slip-up. If he couldn`t reclaim control of the situation soon, he would have no choice but to

activate the implanted chip to put an end to his problems once and for all.


	16. Chapter 15: Damage

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 15: Damage**

Trapped in a small confined part of the corridor, Sonic cursed his bad luck as he measured his metallic opponent. It was one of the patrolling guards he had happened

to end up being stuck with when the doctor had shut down his base. There was a door in the far end of the small area that hadn`t been closed properly when the

locks had been activated, leaving it open apart from the robot blocking it. A robot with long razor-sharp blades attached to its claw-like arms and made out of that

nearly impenetrable metal. Those lifeless gleaming eyes were glued on its blue target.

Both of them frozen in place and waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, without even a hint of warning, the robot shot its right arm forward toward him,

embedding the blade deep into the floor, missing its target by a measly millimeter as he had sidestepped the very last moment.

His situation had begun to feel a little bit claustrophobic as he noticed that that last maneuver had placed him in a corner with few options to dodge a second attack.

With dread he watched as the robot dislodged its blade with an abrupt yank of its arm and came stalking slowly toward him, raising its weapon a second time.

With so little room to move on and with a shadow of death looming over him, offering no crack to slip away to the side as it had last time, the hedgehog saw only one

possible way out. It was just a narrow opening, but it was all he got. He had to get over his attacker and land behind it. As the blade swept toward him again, he

jumped. But before he even had time to land, the robot had lashed out with its second left blade after him so fast that it had cut off the one still stuck in the floor by

the shoulder and continued to almost severe its own head completely, thus short-circuiting itself.

That wasn`t all it had hit though.

At first Sonic wasn`t sure whether the blade had hit him or not since he couldn`t immediately detect any visible mark, but he was sure that he had felt that

something had made contact with his left calf.

Maybe he had been lucky and he had barely been grazed? Giving it no more thought, he figured it would be best to locate Shadow and see what he had been up to.

However, the moment he took a step forward, he gasped as a sharp stinging pain shot through his leg. It refused to carry his weight and he staggered clumsily

toward the closest wall to support himself against it. While putting his weight on his right leg, he glanced down on his other to see…blood. Blood seeping out, of what

he realized had to be a fairly deep paper cut-like wound, and trickling down his leg to be absorbed by his white sock and painting it red.  
_  
"That`s just great,"_ he thought sarcastically with an agonized expression on his face. His breathing was becoming erratic and his vision started to blur. He squeezed

his eyes shut and shook his head to clear it and tried to gain control of his breathing. He needed to stay focused. There was no time to be weak.

When his head started to feel clear again, he started limping toward the door by pure stubborn determination. Each step causing a jolt of pain through his injured leg,

but he did his best to ignore it. He wished that he had had something to bind the wound with. Not only for the obvious reason to stop the bleeding, but also to

prevent leaving a red stained track that could easily lead his enemy right to him.

When he finally managed to reach the door and pushed it open, he stumbled through it and closed it behind him, hearing the lock click in place. His heart

automatically skipped a beat at the sudden realization that he had locked himself in, but quickly calmed down again.  
_  
"No matter,"_ he thought, reassuring himself, _"it`s not like there`s anywhere to go outside."_

Sonic`s interest shifted to where he was, since he had been somewhat disoriented in his escape and not been aware of exactly which part of the base he was in, he

chuckled weakly when he saw where he was.

He was back in the bedroom.

The big soft-looking bed caught his attention. How tempting it would be to just lie down and rest for a while. Too bad he didn`t have time for rest. Still he steered

toward it. Not to sleep on it, but to tear off a strip of the fine white linen that covered it and tie it tightly around his left leg.

"That should do it," he murmured optimistically to himself. Testing his leg with a few tentative steps, he discovered that he could almost walk normally, although very

slowly, again. It was still painful and running was out of the question, but at least his leg didn`t threaten to give in under him anymore so he could continue to either

find his dark counterpart or some safe passage out of the base. Only problem was; either way, he had to go through the robot factory to do so.


	17. Chapter 16: Retrieval

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 16: Retrieval**

"So much for 'safe' passage," Sonic muttered with a groan. He made his way through the dressing room-passage. To his relief, the door leading to the factory had

also been left with a small creak open. It seemed unusual for the doctor to be so careless. _"Maybe Shadow`s been through here…"_ he briefly wondered before slowly

and expectantly pushing the door open. The large room was completely quiet. Every machine and robot seemed to be put on standby. Seeing that everything was

completely in order made the blue hedgehog`s ears droop in disappointment as it meant that his counterpart hadn`t had time to put whatever plan he had into

motion. Perhaps he wasn`t even in the base at all, meaning; he was on his own, wounded, and with an angry Eggman searching for him. The odds seemed to be

against him, but he wasn`t going to let that discourage him for long. With none of the robots in the room properly activated, it did open an opportunity for him to see

if he could figure out how to remove some of those chaos emeralds powering up the larger ones before he was found.

He needed to get down from the platform, and preferably without further injuring his bad leg. He carefully climbed over the handrail, used his good leg to kick away

from the platform to send him flying through the air toward the closest of the huge robots, and grabbed ahold of its shoulder while using his right leg to slow his body

down and hinder it slamming into the metal. So far so good.

Even though there were no signs of reaction from the mechanical giant, he didn`t want to push his luck by climbing at the front of it where those gleaming eyes

would be located in case they would react on movement. Instead he hoisted himself up on the shoulder he hung from where he would be just out of view. Directing

his attention down toward the glass container on the robots chest, he started to wonder how he was supposed to get the precious load it was harboring out. Far as he

could see, there was no button to press that could open it. That meant he had to break the glass. In an attempt to do so, he gave it a quick kick with his right heel.

Nothing. He tried again, harder. A small crack appeared. After a few more tries, he broke through and could easily fish out the emerald. The yellow gem glowed

warmly in his hand and lifted some of the pain from his injured leg away. He quickly stashed it between his quills and climbed over to the next emerald bearing robot,

but before he had time to give a decent kick to the new glass container it shattered as a spear of light hit it. Sonic yelped and almost fell down in surprise. After

hastily regaining his cool, he looked down at a familiar smug face.

"Shadow!" the blue hedgehog smiled, glad to see that he no longer was working alone.

"Care to toss down my emerald?" the black and red streaked one replied with a serious face, stressing 'my' with a hint of teasing in his voice.

Sonic blinked before realizing that it was indeed the red gem he had previously stolen from the dark hedgehog that was inside the broken glass, picked it out and

threw it down to a waiting hand. "I hope you`re not here just to give me a heart attack and get that precious rock of yours back. I could really use some help

redecorating this place into a junk yard if you can spare the time," the blue one said nonchalantly and slid down from the metal giant to the other one`s level.

"Told you I had a plan didn`t I. Although it doesn`t seem like you`re holding up your part in it. Wasn`t you supposed to keep the doctor distracted?" Shadow replied

calmly in a why-am-I-not-surprised-you-failed fashion.

"Eh…well…you know I have a limited attention span," Sonic shrugged apologetically with a sheepish grin.

Shadow didn`t see the point in wasting time scolding at the other`s lack of professional behavior in a serious situation as it would only lead them nowhere, and he

was pretty sure it would only be a matter of time before Eggman finally discovered where they were and all hell would break loose. "I`ve already picked up one

emerald before I saw you, how many have you got?"

"One plus the one I gave you".

"That leaves four more we have to gather. Think we could speed things up? We really need to hurry before we get caught".

"I can`t…" was the almost solemn reply "I`ll do what I can and all, but I can`t speed up," Sonic`s ears and tail drooped a little in shame.

"What do you m-…," Shadow`s sentence was cut short as he noticed the red stained fabric around his rival`s leg. An annoyed sigh escaped him instead. "Fine, just…

do what you can and I`ll handle the rest".

"Okay. Now let`s start getting that fourth emerald out," Sonic chirped, clearly not one to stay down in his mood for long.

"Damn," the black hedgehog suddenly muttered through clenched teeth.

"Hm? Oh! Damn fourth emerald, right?" Sonic corrected himself cheerfully.

"Sure".

The blue hedgehog finally picked up the change in the other`s tone and directed his gaze where the other was looking. His mood made a sudden drop again as he

saw a seriously peeved Eggman glaring down at them from the platform, just before yelling the command that would activate every single robot on in the factory

"GET THEM!"


	18. Chapter 17: Chaos

**Untamed** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 17: Chaos**

"Can`t remember ever seeing him that mad before. What did you do?" Shadow asked, his tone mildly curious while he eyed their numerous approaching opponents.

"Acupuncture-rolled over his back," Sonic answered lightly, which earned him a raised eye ridge from his black counterpart.

Numerous guns were raised and pointed at the two hedgehogs, the one commanding them smirking triumphantly.

"Surrender or die," the evil doctor said coldly, still with that cruel smile plastered on his face.

Ignoring Eggman completely, Shadow asked in a low voice so that only blue triangular ears would hear it. "I could chaos control us away from here if you want".

"No, that would ruin our plan completely. Besides, we need to stop him now before that army of his can grow any stronger," Sonic argued back in that same lowered

tone.

"Can you do homing attacks?"

"If you can help me get some altitude, sure," Sonic answered.

Without wasting time on more talk, Shadow grabbed the closest peach colored arm and swung Sonic in a circle through the air, once the robots were in a close

enough proximity. Sonic kicked with his good leg, while his bad, bandaged leg was tucked in safely. They managed to surprise the robots and knock them over,

buying some time as they moved around the floor.

In a black streak, Shadow sped around the room while the blue hedgehog clutched onto his dark fur. Shadow used chaos spears to protect Sonic from harm as the

robots gave chase.

Once Shadow had enough space, he launched Sonic up into the air with a mighty throw, before chaos controlling out of the laser and bullet rain that half a second

later started to pour.

Sonic managed to land on a flying robot and took control of it by covering its lenses and moving its head in the direction he wanted. As he flew around the room, he

pressed a few buttons on its head, opening fire at his enemies, but taking care not to hit Shadow.

"Curse you, Sonic!" The doctor's voice rung throughout the room.

The blue blur then decided to pay the doctor a visit.

"Gah-!" The doctor then ducked as the blue hedgehog swooped over him with the doctor`s own flying machine, only missing his target by an inch.

One of the super-bots, however, managed to shoot the underside of the robot that Sonic was flying on, causing it to malfunction and spin out of control. Before the

hedgehog lost control completely, he managed to veer it into a group of the strong robots that were pursuing Shadow. Before the impact, Sonic managed to crouch

and bend his legs in order to jump away, but at a price. He groaned, gritted his teeth and inspected his injured leg. He noticed a red streak starting to expand and

become larger on his bandage.

It hurt badly, but he couldn't give up now; the plan had to succeed, otherwise they'd lose. Sonic shakily stood up and performed a circular back-flip in the air. As he

did, time seemed to slow down.

The impact made the robots crash into a wall and break into several pieces, ensuring that they were out of commission.

In mid-air, Sonic curled into a spiky ball while spinning rapidly and went for his first victim. He ricocheted between several robots in a zigzag pattern almost like an

airborne pinball game. With a chaos emerald in hand to boost his attacks, he was at least able to dent the hard metallic armors. Not destroying his foes, but enough

to make some of them malfunction and cause them to shoot blindly at anything nearby, including their own comrades.

Shadow had a little more success in penetrating his targets with chaos spears while teleporting away from the bullets and lasers. A Chaos blast might have been more

effective, but he didn`t dare use one in fear that he would accidentally harm his only ally in the process. Instead he slid in between the legs of one, leapt towards

another of the robots heads and performed a brutal side kick with a blazing hover skate, causing the head to fly away from its owner. The bot went chasing after it.

"Hmph…" Shadow grunted. "Pathetic." He then proceeded to trash the rest of the robot army.

Sonic meanwhile was forced to land after eventually losing too much momentum to continue his attacks. He had managed to get two more emeralds and he was

certain that he had caught a glimpse of his black counterpart ripping one out of the head of one of the larger robots too. That meant that there was only one emerald

left. The fight had gone pretty well for them so far, but as the growing red stain on his improvised band aid indicated, it might soon turn out for the worse. To avoid

getting crushed under a freshly destroyed falling robot, he did a backward flip. Landing on the bad leg, the blue hedgehog fell down on one knee from the sudden

pain with gritted teeth, panting hard from the exertion. He clutched his leg as his blood flowed freely out of it, nothing could stop it.

Despite his ultimatum, Eggman would prefer to catch the two hedgehogs alive. Especially Shadow, who for some reason had appeared out of nowhere to Sonic`s aid,

as he was his grandfather's creation and also one of his best former allies before his memory was restored, which was a minor flaw he could fix. Sonic, on the other

hand, seemed to be badly wounded and had even stopped fighting. He would now be more of a hindrance to the doctor.  
_  
"I guess I won`t have any use for you then,"_ the evil scientist thought and moved an index finger toward the trigger for the explosive chip that he had previously

injected into his blue nemesis. He let the finger linger on the little button, waiting to press it until he knew Sonic was aware of his fate. Green eyes met his dark

glasses when he called out his name.

From the sadistic self-satisfied smirk on the doctor`s face, Sonic knew it wasn`t just any random button Eggman was about to push. He held his breath as he could

only watch in silent horror when it was pushed.


End file.
